Faultline_EU

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Well a stalker has more tricks than just AS, belive me the tank goes down if the stalker wishes. Hell if a stalker puffs 10 reds(cant be bothered to find the cap. but Im sure 10 will take you there) and build up he can 1 hit kill a stone tank in granite.

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Only got around to taking Faulty into Sirens today. Didn't bother before as he only has brawl and stone fist to attack with at that level. Anyway, had two stalkers having a go at me and I just let them. After several minutes and my hp bar only reaching 1/2 once (when I just hit Earths Embrace and healed) they both gave up and left me to go and find something easier.

As for one shotting a tank in GA, whouldn't that mean they would have to hit for about 16,000 points of damage? Probably 22,000 if running EE.

Unless I'm calculating it all wrong, human form is still 85% too.

Awww, cya around mate.

I was going to reply to this yesterday but stupidly did my testing in a PVP zone where there were probably other bonuses affecting the results.

Anyway, I tested again this morning to check what I thought was right (not played much recently and didn't trust my memory). The resistance cap in Dwarf is still 85% - tested by chewing a load of sturdies. I assume it's 85% in human as well.

Dwarf has 37.5% base resistance. Shields are 22.5% base. Not sure about incandecence, couldn't be bothered to find an energy mob to test against. Used to be 13.5%, guessing about 11% now.

So with 3 slots (and Incandecence with the default one slot), S/L/C/F res is about 36% and E/NE is about 49%. Dwarf 3 slotted is about 60%. The figures for light form are correct as far as I know (don't have it to test).

I've had a fair bit of fun with my PB in PvP. Being tri-form has helped a lot. The firepower in Nova is good for chasing down squishies or for large group battles where the villians don't realize you are overhead hitting them with AoEs. Just look out for flying stalkers.

Human form is best for taking on single targets. I can stand toe to toe with Brutes most of the time (unless they have attacks that stun) although that usually ends in a stalemate. Using Essence Boost to increase HP is a good way of taking on Stalkers - they can't one hit you and you can often stun them with IS if you are quick.

Dwarf is just usefull when you get in trouble. I usually put its heal on auto so as soon as I switch form the heal goes off. The teleport is handy when you really get in trouble - one minute they think they have you and the next you've vanished. I really like teleporting next to a squishy target (masterminds are great for this) and switching to human form at the same time to hit them with IS - great sneak tactic.

I don't own but I think people find me hard to pin down and kill.

To give you a little more to think about. I think I have 2 acc, 3 hold and 1 recharge in fosillize. The damage is fairly low and I much prefer using it to take something nasty out of the fight. I can stack it with the hold on Seismic Smash to hold bosses (and occasionally AVs) for a little while.

I usually hit someone with stone prison first as it lowers defence (not sure by how much) and seems to help make sure fossilize doesn't miss straight after.

Tried stalagmites for the disorientate but wasn't impressed so dropped it. Good for getting aggro I guess.

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Absolutely! Lay out massive amounts of damage with your Squid (Build Up <3) (up in the sky, in safety from Stalkers and their backstabbing), and when the [censored] hits the fan (you are mezzed or much damage is coming your way), enter Lobster mode (and teleport away if it's really bad) .

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Don't forget my favourite tactic, dwarf step and then queue up human form and incandescent strike whilst tp is activating. Worked nicely on a MM yesterday - one minute he's stood by the side happily watching me surrounded by his minions, next I'm stood next to him in human form and he's flat on his face. Gotta love surprises.

I have no intention of taking Faulty into the PvP zones - unless anyone needs a large rock to hide behind?!

Only been playing PvP for a few days after discovering that a tri-form PB is a fairly tough character and I have to say that was the most fun evening I've had yet.

It was great the way the tide of battle kept changing. One minute the heroes have the villians pinned in their base and we are fighting them on the clifftops, next it's a free for all in the sea and then we are defending a roof from your evil assaults. Everyone died lots but they just got straight back up and threw themselves back into the fight.

It was only when you just said then about getting your SOs that I realised I was so trashed that I logged straight out without even using the bounty I collected (which was at about 15K last time I looked and must have been closer to 20K at the end). Bugger!

Thanks to everyone there for a great night.

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to avoid bein instantly squished now taunt is a must have, hell to me it was a must have before so now its a must must have and if u tank so that u r the only one in the line of fire then a healer only has u to worried about which is a good thing.

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Hmmm, not sure I totally agree with that (although I'm just assuming you are talking about the early levels?). Playing an empath has given me a much better understanding of what I put healers through when I play my other alts. I would agree that having one healing target is good, however tanks in the early levels can't hold agro and can't take huge amounts of damage anyway. I much prefer Fort'ing the tank and knowing he is fairly safe for a while as it leaves me free to focus on the real squishies (where one hit sends them into the red). If the tank goes in first, gauntlet will ensure they have all the aggro they can cope with without having to use taunt. I built an empath purely for healing and if the damage comes in too fast I still can't cope. I'm not sure how those healers that take a lot of their secondary would cope with a tank that had all the aggro on him...?

As for soloing with a tank, I never could (or at least it was too dull). If you build a scranker, they aren't good on a team but if you build a team tank, they can't really solo. Fire tanks were one of the few exceptions to that, not sure they still are? If you want to solo, a tank is really not the way to go. Well, that's just my opinion anyway.

Unfortunately tanks are fairly squishy in the early levels. The defences are nowhere near complete, they're hitpoints are not much higher than other ATs and they're damage is usually a fair bit less, resulting in much longer fights (and more damage taken).

By about level 15 a good tank can start to show how well they can take a punch. I've been playing an empath down in the Hollows and I have been watching how well the tanks on my teams do. Yes they need healing but it's usually not the mad scramble to keep tham alive as it is with other ATs.

They do get better, just not godlike like they were before.

Awww, sorry I missed it. Hope it was a good one Tyl. Did u get cake?

Still have it in my build. With loads of slots freed up by ED it's now also 5 slotted (2 recharge and 3 taunt if I remember rightly).

I use AoE most of the time to get aggro but it's handy for pulling mobs off people sometimes and also for some AVs (like Infernal) which are best tanked at range. Can't beat taunt for that.

Second mission I tried was on Invincible - defeat all carnies in warehouse. All mobs were level 52/53 (even spread of both). No bosses. Total time to complete - 18 minutes. Total threat level - meh.

Single spawns (2 mobs) were no problem at all. No armours really needed. If I herded 6 minions or so, they became more of a problem and would wear my HP down even with armours if I just stood there. Easy to counteract with the odd Fault, EE etc.. I was also using the official tanking technique for carnies and targeting the strongmen first of course.

Far as I can see, tanks should be able to run missions solo at any level with no real threat of ever dying. Only exception might be bosses or elite bosses that regen faster than a tank can cause damage. I'm not sure how much fun it would be to solo loads of missions with no challenge? Some may also take a very long time.

Picked up a mish from Crimson, set my dificulty to heroic and headed to DA for a defeat all Malta mission.

All mobs were 50 or 51. No bosses. Total time to complete the mission was 23 minutes. Total threat level of enemies on the mission was zero. I started with stone skin, rock armour, tough, crystals and rooted. Was only really using crystals for the sapper and as I could fosillize him I turned it off. Mobs were still barely touching me so I decided to turn rock armour and tough off as well. Pretty much no difference.

Lastly I thought it a little unfair that I was regening so fast so I turned rooted off as well (i was only really running it for mez protection). Still no real threat. The only tough moment was when I didnt wait for fosillize to recharge before attacking a group and the sapper drained all my end and perma-held me. Had to use a breakfree and a couple of cabs to 'remove' him

I'll try my next mish on invincible tomorrow morning.

Having seen a thread on the blasters forum, I thought I'd start one here. Basically any new stone tanks that would like to see what certain powers are like, want to know what power to get next, need some general advice etc.. can get in touch with me ingame. I'm always happy to exemp down or sk them up if not busy and train them in the ways of the stoner.

Faultline - level 50
Stone/Stone/Stone Tank - Defiant

The Dull Pain, EE etc.. change sounds quite good. Apparently it enhances half the heal, meaning about 60% HP boost with three SOs. Will be nice to hit almost 3.5K hp.

Actually I'd be curious to know how well I could solo an Heroic mish now. It used to be very slow before but now the three attacks I have are doing less damage. It's got to the stage where the best way for me to arrest something is put Stone Fist on auto and go make a cuppa.

I'll try running one tonight and let you know how long it takes me.

With a base defence of 16% you get about 0.5% for the fourth slot I believe. Slightly more for brimstone as it's base is 25% resistance.

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What about Mudpots? Is that a must too?

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For a Brute I'm not sure. Its main purpose is allowing you to keep aggro on anything nearby so if you want to do that, definitely take it. With extra slots freed up because of ED, I've now been able to 3 slot it with damage as well. It's not great damage but if you pound away at a boss for a couple of mins you'll often find that most of the minions near him are dead/almost dead through mudpots damage by the time you finish with the boss.

Was about the same number of defenders and trollers. Blasters and scrappers were up in the 70/80s but they are the most popular AT.

Some high level tanks may not like the changes and stop playing but new tanks will never know any different. Will be interesting to see if those that started after ED and I6 carry on playing their tank to a high level. That will really show if people still think they are fun.

I think your figures may be wrong. I did the same check. Search for all, about 1150 listed. Search for tanks - 50 on. Then I searched for all AT combined and the total was 350. I guess the other total is for villians as well even tho they arent listed (most of the time anyway)

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i've also heard that crystal armour is a bit pants (anyone know if there is any truth in this?).

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It has the same defence as rock and minerals - 26% with three SOs.

I don't really PvP but I was drafted in last minute to one of the S4 matches. My experience with that was as soon as the bubble I'd been given wore out, my normal armours were not really up to the job. No one could put a dent in me when I switched to GA, but I may as well just have been a lump of rock for all the mobility you have in that form...

Apart from the tank on the other team who just kept taunting me, I was ignored for the rest of the match.

With TP foe you may be able to get someone within your grasp but remember that all your attacks will take forever to recharge.

Stone armour is not quite as straight forward as it seems.

Most stoners go for a perma-granite build when they hit level 33. This is because the normal armours are very poor and granite is godlike. The only downside is you have -recharge -spd and -dmg in GA. It takes about 2 recharge slots in each power to offset the -recharge in granite (I think). With no hasten in your build, you will struggle to hold aggro when using GA (but you'll more or less never die). Perma-GA people will drop most of the other armours.
Stone Skin will let you hit the S/L res cap whilst in Granite if you take it.

If you are planning on using all the other armours and only switching to granite in emergencies, what you have will probably not be enough. Stone Skin and Tough are needed too. I have a thread round here somewhere about tanking without using granite if thats the route you want to take.

Khelds don't really need status protection. I have CJ and acrobatics for some status protection. Health now offers slight protection from sleep. We get some from Controllers and then there is also light form. And if thats not enough, we get dwarf.

For me the question about feeling epic is a different one. I love my PB and how versatile it is. Some great attacks, controlling ability, resistance that can almost make a tank jealous (and thats just with shields and cosmic balance). When things go wrong on a team, I'm often one of the last standing and still dishing out damage. It's when I'm on a well rounded team and things are going well that I feel less epic.

We are meant as a 'jack of all trades' AT and will never be able to perform better than a tank or blaster etc. On a good team, I often don't feel like I'm carrying my weight. Maybe thats just because my 50 was a tank and I'm used to being a central figure in the team and being relied on?